Cassidy saw me. She saw through the jerk that I was when I first arrived. She saw through my bullshit, and even though she didn’t know all that much about me, I still felt like she knew me. It was indescribable how I felt so close to a woman who I hardly knew.
Cassidy leaned in close to my earlobe and I thought she was going to kiss my neck like I had kissed hers. I didn’t pull away. If she was going to make a move, I wouldn’t deny her. I wanted her, and I was only holding back because I didn’t want to cause her trouble. If she wanted me, hell, I was totally game.
Her breath was on my skin, and I prepared myself to feel the touch of her lips on me. She could do absolutely anything she wanted to do to me and I’d be fine with it. I hadn’t had a woman in weeks, and my body felt like it was going to explode. Her lips were so close to me that I felt myself urging them to move closer and closer. I wanted her. I wanted this to happen.
“You should probably let go of my ass,” she whispered as her thighs loosened and she pulled herself away from me.
Reluctantly, I released her from my grip. Nothing about it had been what I wanted to do. If it had been up to me, we would have been making love on one of the pool chairs by that point.
“Your ass was in my hands. I couldn’t help it.”
“So, you’re coming to my house to meet my family. But you’re sleeping on the couch and there will be no funny business. Do you understand?” she asked firmly as she took two steps away from me.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said with a fun salute.
“I’m serious. My father is a great guy, but if he thinks we are messing around, he’ll shoot you.”
My eyes widened as I lost about three shades of pigment in my skin. I didn’t want to get shot, and I clearly wasn’t able to control myself around Cassidy. Maybe I shouldn’t be going over to her family’s house. Angry fathers weren’t really something I was good at dealing with. Now mothers, on the other hand, I was really good at dealing with. Mothers loved me.
I had not had the chance to meet many girls’ families over the years, not since high school at least. One-night stands weren’t really conducive to meeting the parents. Suddenly, I worried that I would say or do something wrong if I did meet them. Certainly, she was joking about getting shot, but what else might he do if he didn’t like me?
“Um….”
“I’m kidding. He’s a pushover. Don’t worry. His bark is worse than his bite.”
“He barks and bites?” I asked jokingly.
“You’ll be fine. Bring a present for them, it will help. I always buy them horrible things. It’s sort of a running joke between us that I’m the worst Christmas shopper ever.”
“You buy your parents bad gifts on purpose?”
“Yeah, you know, like ugly sweaters and stuff like that. The funny thing is it all started with me buying them matching jogging suits that I actually thought they would like.”
“What do your parents do for work?” I asked as we both took a seat on the stairs and stayed a few feet away from one another. “I’m sorry if you told me before, but I don’t remember.”
“They run a ski resort in town here.”
“That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah, growing up I always had free skiing. But they want me to work with them, and I’ve never really been that into skiing. I always just wipe out and hurt myself.”
“I understand.”
Being part of the family business was certainly something that I understood. It wasn’t for Cassidy and it wasn’t for me. We were free thinkers who had our own paths to follow.
“Should we try out the hot tub?”
“Sure,” I replied with zero self-control to deny her.
BILLIONAIRE IN REHAB PART III
Chapter Thirteen
Cassidy
I had given up on avoiding Erik. There was no use. I couldn’t avoid him, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to anymore. As we climbed into the hot tub, it felt more like we were on a date than he was in a treatment center.
He sat on the other side of the hot tub from me, and I appreciated him giving me the space. When I invited him to come home with me for Christmas, it was out of pity. He had a sad look on his face when I told him about my family, and I had always been a sucker for puppy dog eyes.